Lacher, Markus Daniel

3039 Background: Patients with multiple organ metastases have poorer prognoses than those with a single organ metastasis, are frequently associated with drug resistance, and have higher tumor burden. Engorged (≥50um) Cancer Associated Macrophage-Like Cells (CAMLs) are a circulating stromal cell subtype detected in the blood of patients with solid tumors at high risk for recurrence or progression. While numerous studies have shown that ≥50um CAMLs predict poor clinical outcomes, meta-analysis of these studies have also suggested that hyper engorged CAMLs ≥100um (heCAMLs) may be associated with multifocal metastatic disease and even worse outcomes. In this prospective study, we evaluated the presence of heCAMLs in patients with metastatic disease and demonstrated a strong relationship with multi organ spread, which also correlated with shorter Progression Free Survival (PFS) and Overall Survival (OS). Methods: We prospectively recruited 151 patients with metastatic (m) mbreast (n = 58), mlung (n = 34), mprostate (n = 39), and mrenal (n = 20) cancers. Peripheral blood was collected prior to the induction of new treatment for metastatic cancer. Cells were isolated following standard CellSieve techniques, then imaged and measured in ZenBlue. Multi organ metastasis was defined as spread to ≥2 distant organ sites, or any spread to the brain. Single factor ANOVA was conducted to compare heCAML presence in multi organ metastatic patients versus patients with single organ site metastasis. Univariate and multivariate analysis was run to evaluate for PFS and OS against heCAMLs, and all known clinical parameters. Results: 150 viable samples (excluding 1 failed sample) were obtained. Multi organ metastases were present in 55% (n = 83/150) of patients. heCAMLs were found in 59% (n = 49/83) of the multi organ metastatic population, but only in 16% (n = 11/67) of the single site metastatic cohort (p < 0.001). heCAML presence appeared to differentiate multi organ vs single organ metastases in mbreast (85% vs. 52%, p = 0.006), mlung (71% vs. 26%, p = 0.025), mprostate (75% vs. 37%, p = 0.029), and mRCC (88% vs. 36%, p = 0.025). Further, in all n = 150 patients, heCAML presence predicted a significantly shorter median PFS of 4.5 versus 7.2 months, 24 month PFS (HR = 1.67, 95%CI = 1.13-2.45, p = 0.013), and significantly shorter median OS of 13.1 versus 20.4 months, 24 month OS (HR = 2.05, 95%CI = 1.24-3.39, p = 0.008). Conclusions: We examined a non-invasive prognostic blood based assay to determine its relationship to multi organ metastatic spread as well as its prognostic value in several solid cancers. These results showed patients with heCAMLs had higher rates of multi organ metastases, and appear to predict for shorter PFS and OS. Studies of larger cohorts are needed for prospective validation of these initial findings.

Abstract Background: Tumor-associated macrophages have been shown to play a critical role in metastasis, angiogenesis, and immune escape. Cancer associated macrophage-like cells (CAMLs) are circulating stromal cell with macrophage expression subtypes, detected in the peripheral blood of patients with solid tumors. We have previously shown that enlargement of CAML cells is an independent predictor of poorer overall survival and an indication of progression in patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC). However changes in CAML sizes after induction of therapy has not been investigated. Here we evaluated the association between early changes in numbers and sizes of CAMLs as it relates to clinical response after induction of new therapy. Method: Peripheral blood samples from 29 patients with metastatic breast cancer who failed at least 2 prior lines of therapies were prospectively collected. Baseline (BL) blood samples were taken prior to initiation of a new therapy and the second samples (T1) were taken approximately 30 days after initiation of a new systemic therapy. Blood samples were filtered using CellSieveTM filtration. The quantity and size of CAMLs were measured then compared between the BL and T1 time points. Univariate analysis was used to determine the association of changes in CAML numbers and changes in CAML size, with objective response at the first follow up CT scan with progression free survival (PFS). Results: CAMLs were detected in 97% of BL samples (averaging 20.9 CAMLs/7.5ml blood) and 93% of T1 samples (averaging 18.5 CAMLs/7.5mL blood). At the time of the first follow up CT scan, 17 of 29 patients (58.6%) had progressive disease based on the RECIST criteria. Among those, 14 of 17 patients (82%) had an increase in CAML size (~85% overall enlargement) and 3/17 (18%) had a decrease CAML size (~60% overall shrinkage) in T1 samples compared to baseline. In contrast, 10 of 12 patients (83%) with clinical benefit, including stable disease and partial or complete response, had a 92% reduction in their CAML’s size and 2 of 12 patients (17%) had 61% enlargement in their CAML’s size after treatment. Overall, CAML size change after therapy induction was 83% accurate in predicting clinical benefit based on subsequent scans. Furthermore, patients with enlarging CAML size at T1 had significantly shorter PFS of 4 months compared to 10 months in patients with decreasing CAML size (HR 3.7; 95%CI1.5-10.1; p 0.020). Conclusion: CAMLs can be commonly found in most treatment-refractory metastatic breast cancer patients and their morphological size is clinically correlated to poorer survival. Our data suggests that monitoring the size changes of a patient’s CAMLs after 30 days of new treatment initiation may predict clinical benefit earlier than conventional scans and act as real time monitoring of MBCs response to new therapies. Additional studies are currently ongoing to validate these results. Citation Format: Saranya Chumsri, Markus D. Lacher, William V. Williams, R. K. Alpaugh, Stuart S. Martin, Rena Lapidus, Cha-Mei Tang, Massimo Cristofanilli, Daniel L Adams. Circulating cancer associated macrophage-like cells (CAMLs) are early predictors of response to new line therapies in metastatic breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2019 Dec 10-14; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P5-06-27.

e14048 Background: Cancer associated macrophage like cells (CAMLs), a circulating stromal cell subtype, has been shown as an independent prognostic indicator of survival in late stage metastatic breast cancer when cells enlarge to ≥50µm. However, no study has evaluated the clinical relationship between changes in CAML size and their ability to predict treatment response. While CAMLs are prognostic for progression, we hypothesized that monitoring changes in CAMLs after initiation of therapy may be predictive for responsiveness of new treatment regimens. Methods: A prospective 12 months blind multi-institutional pilot study was undertaken to evaluate CAMLs before, and after, induction of a new line of investigational therapy based on CT scans. Patients with progressive metastatic breast cancer (n = 29) who had failed at least 2 prior therapies were recruited. A baseline (BL) blood sample was taken prior to induction of a new therapy and a 2nd sample (T1) taken after initiation (~30 days). Blood was filtered by CellSieve filtration.The quantities and sizes of CAMLs were analyzed based on PFS hazard ratios (HRs) by censored univariate analysis. Results: CAMLs were found in 97% of BL samples and 93% of T1 samples. At first CT scan, after the assigned dose of investigational treatment, 17 of 29 patients had clinical progression with 14/17 (82%) patients having an increased CAML size and 3/17 (18%) having a decreased CAML size. The remaining 12 of 29 patients saw clinically stable, or regression, of disease with 10/12 (83%) having decreased CAML size and 2/12 (17%) having increased CAML size. Overall CAML size change after therapy induction was 83% accurate at predicting response or progression based on CT scans. Further, patients with increasing CAML size at T1 had a 4 month mPFS vs 10 month mPFS for decreasing CAMLs, with a lower 12 month PFS HR = 3.7 (95%CI = 1.5-10.1, p = 0.020). Conclusions: Our data suggests that in metastatic breast cancer, monitoring CAMLs changes over the first 30 days of treatment accurately predicts responsiveness of disease to new treatments. Further, we suggests using blood sampling may increase the clinical value of blood based diagnostics by rapidly predicting the benefit of subsequent therapies.